


His Last Chance - Eddie Gluskin/Male Reader

by bonecandy



Category: Outlast (Video Games)
Genre: Childhood Sexual Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Fix-It of Sorts, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Outlast: Whistleblower, Sexual Abuse, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:41:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29913615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonecandy/pseuds/bonecandy
Summary: When reader becomes a therapist at Mount Massive Asylum, he realizes that nobody else is going to try to help Eddie get better and resolve his childhood trauma. The reader is Eddie's last chance at recovery- but in the process of saving Eddie, will the reader get too emotionally entangled with him?
Relationships: Eddie Gluskin/Reader, Eddie Gluskin/You
Kudos: 7





	His Last Chance - Eddie Gluskin/Male Reader

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I'm back again with another Eddie fic, since I'm hyperfocusing on Outlast and there's almost no content for Eddie aside from the game itself. This one will probably be multi-chapter, since Eddie has a lot to unpack. This story takes place before the collapse of the asylum, and I guess it's sort of a fix-it fic in that Eddie is finally getting the therapy he needs. I know that Murkoff would realistically never let the patients get good psychiatric care, but SOMEONE needs to give Eddie the help he deserves. This one contains all the standard trigger warnings that come with Eddie (violence, misogyny, etc.) as well as a trigger warning for childhood sexual assault. I don't describe it graphically, but it is referenced because it's important to how Eddie ended up the way he is, so I thought it was important to include. Thanks for reading, everyone!

Working with the Murkoff corporation is the last thing you ever thought you would do with your psychology degree. It’s an immoral, disgusting company, and just working here makes you feel slimy, but you know these patients aren’t getting the proper care, and somebody needs to do something about it. If nobody else is going to take on that task, it seems that person will have to be you. A lot of these patients have clearly been neglected mentally… no medicine, no therapy… you’re beginning to wonder if the neglect is intentional. You have a feeling you’re going to be breaking a lot of orders by giving these patients the care they deserve, but you’re willing to risk everything to help them. That’s why you became a therapist- to help people everyone else thinks are beyond help. 

Your next patient is supposedly one of the most dangerous in the asylum. According to the file in front of you, his name is Eddie Gluskin… he has a history of violence, and he was sentenced to his stay in Mount Massive because of his crimes as a serial killer, murdering women and mutilating their bodies. The last therapist to handle him noted strong delusions about desiring a ‘wife’. Far from desiring a traditional wife, Eddie has expressed fantasies of creating a ‘bride’ by cutting off other mens’ penises and stuffing their chests to mimic breasts. The thought makes you feel a little sick, but you’ve heard worse, and you have no intention of expressing your disgust for his fantasies to his face. It would only serve to alienate him and make him trust you less. You scan over Eddie’s file one more time before you hear a knock on the door. The voice of one of the orderlies sounds out from behind the door, warning you that your patient is on his way in. “Are you ready for him?” The nurse asks easily. 

“Yes, bring him in.” You reply, steeling yourself with a deep breath. There will be a lot to unpack with Eddie, but the first thing you need to do is gain his trust. The nurse opens the door, and you’re surprised to see a remarkably handsome man straitjacketed and strapped down to the wheelchair the nurse is pushing. That must be Eddie, though frankly, he doesn’t look quite like you imagined. Reading his file, you admittedly expected him to be strange-looking at best, but the man before you is completely ordinary- more than ordinary, if you’re being honest with yourself. The nurse wheels Eddie’s wheelchair closer, parking him in front of your desk. 

“Thank you, you can go now.” You tell the nurse calmly. The nurse looks a bit taken aback- usually, the therapists who treat patients here would want a nurse to stick around, in case something goes wrong. You won’t pretend you didn’t consider it, but establishing a bond of trust is important to getting Eddie to talk, and keeping the nurse in the room would tell him you don’t trust him. The nurse gives you an uncertain look before stepping out the door. You have a feeling they’ll probably be waiting just outside, in case something goes wrong. 

“Well, Eddie, hello.” You wave from across the desk, leaning your elbows on the wood surface and getting a little closer to him. He has an intimidating air, the kind of look that warns you a man is dangerous, but you can’t allow that to get to you. You keep a cheerful sort of air as you motion to the file on your desk. “I was just reading about you. I have to admit you seem more pleasant in person.” You give a wry smile, closing the cover of the folder and tucking it back into your desk, instead pulling out a notepad so you can take some notes on the session. “It’s been a while since you’ve been let out of your cell for therapy, hasn’t it?” 

Eddie gives a plain nod, clearly mistrustful, but at least receptive to conversation. “Months. The last therapist stopped seeing me after I escaped my straitjacket and got my hands on a pair of scissors.” He looks over the desk, eyeing the pencil cup next to your computer, an unsettling sort of smile on his face. “I see you don’t have any scissors on your desk. What a shame.” He seems completely unrepentant, assessing you with a predatory look in his eyes. “You could be so beautiful, if you let me help you.” 

The suggestion is frightening to say the least, and a smug look entered his eyes when you crossed your legs under the desk. Somehow, though, you managed to keep a clear head, speaking with an even voice as you raise a brow at him. “How would you help me, if I let you? How do you think you would make me beautiful?” You want to get him talking, telling you about what goes on in his mind, even if you don’t particularly want to encourage his fantasies as they’re directed toward you. You would like to keep your genitals, thank you very much. 

“Well, darling, it wouldn’t take much. You’re already very lovely… just a snip of flesh here and there, cut away the vulgar parts, and you would be perfect.” He hums happily, excited by the idea, a look of delight in his eyes. It’s strange to see a perfect stranger look at you that way, but you have to remember it’s because he wants to kill you, not because he cares about you in any real way. His delusions are clearly powerful. “You would make a beautiful bride, I can tell you that much.” 

“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline this time, but maybe we can talk a little more about why you want to do those things.” Your pen scrawls a few notes on the notepad, but you make a point not to seem too clinical as you speak with him. “There are plenty of women in the world who already have the body parts you’re trying to recreate, but even when you had a chance to interact with them, you killed them. Why is that?” 

Eddie’s lip curls in a sneer at the mention of the women of the outside world, and disgust crosses his handsome face. “Whores, all of them. They weren’t worthy, they were disgusting.” The anger is building in him, a sort of hatred I didn’t expect. “They were disloyal shrews and they didn’t deserve my love. They thought they were better than me. A woman who needs help to be perfect, she would have more humility. She would realize that it’s because of me she’s as lovely as she is.” His hatred is deep-seeded and harsh, more intense than you would have expected. You know about the traumas of his past, of course, but you’ve never seen a response quite like this before. You wonder if there might be more to his delusions than you first thought… You still don’t quite understand why he would choose to make men into ‘women’ rather than try to find a worthy wife in someone who’s already biologically to his tastes. 

“Has that been the case, when you helped women become perfect? I know you managed at least once or twice, when you weren’t under heavy enough security and the guards weren’t paying close enough attention. Did you find those women were more grateful?” You prod for more information, though you highly doubt that would be the case. You have a theory, and you need to figure out how to test it. 

“Those whores weren’t worthy.” He hisses. “I knew they weren’t quite right, but they were the only ones I could get to. They were weak, and they didn’t believe in love.” Recalling past victims, an expression of pure repulsion and hate washes over him, and he grits his teeth in anger. The anger in his words is chilling, but it fades when he looks over you again, his cruel anger fading as quickly as it came on. “But you wouldn’t be like that, would you?” He smiles a toothy smile, looking over you with an expression that’s increasingly more and more adoring. The more time he spends with you, the more he seems to think you’re the wife he’s looking for. 

“Eddie… if you don’t mind me asking, have you ever loved a woman from the outside world?” You ask curiously. You’re beginning to wonder… maybe the issue isn’t that Eddie hates women, but that Eddie has an inclination toward the same gender, one he’s been hiding away in a dark place inside himself until it twists and becomes something horrifying. 

“Of course not. None of them are worthy of me, of the love I can give” He shakes his head. “I don’t even have to know them to realize they’re ugly and wrong for me.” You expected that answer, of course... You’re beginning to have an idea of why Eddie is the way he is. 

“Have you ever seen someone out in the real world that you wanted to make into the perfect woman?” You ask, making a few more notes. “Someone you knew you could love?” 

“I did, but I never got the chance to make her as beautiful as I wanted to.” He hums. “It was a shame, missing an opportunity like that.” He muses. “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, though… maybe I was meant to meet you, instead.” 

You can tell he’s trying his best to charm you, make you feel safe with him… maybe even safe enough to let your guard down so he can pounce. You don’t intend on giving him any chances to hurt you, though, not any time soon at least. You’ll have to try to get through to him and help him realize the ‘women’ he wants to make perfect are men, but you won’t be able to do that until he’s got better control of his delusions, so you’ll have to get him on medication first. You pull out your prescription pad and scribble down a prescription for an antipsychotic medication. “I do think we were meant to meet, Eddie, but I think I was meant to meet you so that I could help you get better.” 

As you finish writing your prescription, the orderly enters the room. “Time’s up.” He says simply, taking hold of the handles on Eddie’s wheelchair. You hold out the prescription to the nurse, who takes it and tucks it into his pocket. 

“Please have that filled and make sure he gets it with breakfast every morning for the next week. I want to hear about the results next time I see him.” You ask easily. The nurse nods, then wheels Eddie out of the room. One thing’s for sure, he’s certainly one of your more intriguing patients… you find yourself picturing his face long after he’s gone, thinking about the words he said. From the answers he gave you, you’re fairly sure he’s probably not actually attracted to women… He’s disgusted by any of the biological women he met on the outside, whereas he showed an interest in men even before being admitted to the hospital. Now to figure out why his attraction to men became so intensely twisted… 

You crack his file open again, reading it over. Most of the file focuses on his past crimes, but you flip past those. You want to know more about his early childhood. The past therapist's notes say that he insists he had a good childhood, but that truthfully his childhood was pretty awful. Public record says he was molested by both his father and his uncle at a very young age… the thought of it breaks your heart, but it also puts more than a few pieces together in the puzzle that is Eddie’s psychology. He must be struggling with his attraction to men because of what his uncle and father did to him… you can’t be sure, but you think the real reason he cuts off mens’ penises is because they’re less of a threat to him when they don’t have one. They may remind Eddie of his trauma, or he may feel wrong about being attracted to men because he associates liking men with what his uncle and father did to him. His hatred for women was a little less clear, but you suspected it might come from the fact that all that trauma happened to him while his mother was meant to be protecting him. He may have come to blame all female-kind for his trauma, projecting his mother’s failures onto them. 

Knowing these things breaks your heart, but it gives you hope too. Now that you know the truth of the matter, you may have a chance of breaking through and getting him to realize it too. It will be hard work, but you’re determined to help this man… you may well be his last chance, considering how little the asylum seems to care about its patients.


End file.
